21 November 2017 - Daily Current Affair

India’s nominee Dalveer Bhandari re-elected to International Court of Justice

India's nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Mr. Dalveer Bhandari (70-year) has been re-elected to the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.

Justice Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly, secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council at the UN headquarters, New York.

Justice Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood were locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election for the nine-year term.

It will be the first time since the ICJ was established in 1946 that there will be no British judge

Note:

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial branch of the United Nations (UN) seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.

The court settles legal disputes submitted to it by states and provides advisory opinions on legal questions submitted to it by duly authorized international branches, agencies, and the UN General Assembly.

World Fisheries day is being observed today

Today, the World Fisheries day is being celebrated throughout the world by the fisherfolk communities to highlight the importance of maintaining the world's fisheries.

The Day helps in highlighting the critical importance to human lives, of water and the lives it sustains, both in and out of water.

The Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has inaugurated the World Fisheries Day celebrations in New Delhi.

Galaxy of foreign dignitaries including ambassadors of South-East Asian countries and some western countries will attend the inaugural function.

A two-day North-East Development Summit will also be opened by the President as a part of the festival.

As many as 175 delegates including official representatives of foreign countries and multi-national corporate firms are also attending the Summit.

Maharashtra Govt. setting up of Gender Budget Cell for various schemes

According to the Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, Gender Budget Cell for better implementation of various schemes of the Women and Child Development (WCD) by other government departments.

The Budget Cell will be responsible for coordination between various departments for effective implementation of the schemes.

A nodal officer will be appointed in each administrative department to monitor the implementation of the schemes of WCD.

Every department implementing WCD schemes will have to bear responsibility for the effective implementation of the schemes.

NASA tests Supersonic Parachute for Mars 2020 mission

National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency (NASA) has successfully tested a supersonic landing parachute that will be deployed in its Mars rover mission set to launch in 2020.

The mission will rely on a special parachute to slow the spacecraft down as it enters the Martian atmosphere at over 5.4 kilometers per second.

The Mars 2020 mission will seek signs of ancient Martian life by investigating evidence in place and by caching drilled samples of Martian rocks for potential future return to Earth.

This is the first of several tests in support of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.

Note: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.